Dead Space: Survival
by Jedireaper
Summary: Set before and during the in-game events of Dead Space. This story follows Medical Officer Laura Hainz, Security Officer Simon Horton, and Engineer Gordon Simov as they try to survive the hellish nightmare that has fallen upon the U.S.G Ishimura, and it's crews decent into madness. (Started Nov 2009)
1. Just A Bad Dream

Chapter 1: "Just A Bad Dream"

The power door beeped and slid a few inches open, allowing the face of a woman with dark brown or possibly black hair depending on the tone of the emergency lights as they pulsed, peer round the edge of the door runners into the Medical research bay beyond.

From the woman's perspective, the room was filled with silhouettes of hundreds of beings screaming and shrieking in pain and fear.

She pulled back behind the door and closed it, just as the sounds of the dying reached Medical Officer Laura Hainz's ears. She shuddered and resealed the door with her RIG's holo-controls, whilst overriding any access to those below her status. She grimaced as she heard a scream and the sound of ripping flesh barely half a second before something slammed into the door, with a squishy thump that accompanied the sounds of a broken body.

"What do you think?" Came the shaky and strained, yet quiet vocal tones of Engineer Gordon Simov.

She looked over at a man who was propped up against the wall; his left arm was bandaged up from the muscle to the elbow, and a bone-Defragmenter brace was rodded through the loops of the medical fabric. The device used small blue lasers crisscrossing the bandage and into his arm, as the device restructured, and repaired the man's bones. His lower arm had been shattered after he took a vicious slash from a plasma cutter, whose owner was probably now floating somewhere over the Ishimura's hull amidships.

The burns had been cleared by the medical crew, but it was the senior medical officer in the room opposite him who had done the rest of the work.

Gordon's face was spattered with blood, yet not covered and it had taken all his strength to fight off his crazed co-worker. And even more strength to make his way from the Mining Deck to the Medical Deck. In fact, he had been unconscious until just a few minutes ago.

Laura had to choke down the chills, brushing her black hair from her face and hazel eyes, to look directly in the Engineer's own eyes. "We should wait till those, those-" her words choked, "creatures leave."

"Necromorphs. That's what Doctor Kyne called them, right?" Security Officer Simon Horten spoke up from the corner of the storage room to the medical bay. He had his pulse rifle with him, a long tubular shaped barrel, with a light and laser pointers attachment. It was fully loaded and ready for another "Necromorph" to crawl it's way to them. "What if they don't just leave, huh?"

Laura tried to smile at the Security Officer but could only manage to tremble her lips ever so slightly. "I don't know." She said quietly. "Doctor Kyne was insane, we could all see that. You were sent down here to arrest him for murdering the captain. Remember?"

Simon didn't reply, but looked down. They all knew that Kyne wasn't crazy, a little wacky maybe, but not crazy. He had been the one who tried to show reason in adversity. However the Church, and that included the captain, would have none of it.

The U.S.G Ishimura. She was the first, biggest, and oldest Planet-cracker class starship in operation within the colonies. And she had been digging up an allegedly ancient alien marker that had been buried within the planet below for centuries. However they were in this system illegally. So far, during the Planet-Crack, many of the crew both downside and on the Ishimura were slowly going insane.

The whole situation was madness in it's own right.

Gordon sniffed, and wiped a splatter of blood from the woman's chin. "Thanks for saving my arm, Laura. I owe you."

She finally managed to smile, just as someone began pounding on the door causing the three occupants to turn and face the "locked" holographic display. A voice that was female, muffled, panicky but clear, shouted. "Let me in! Let me in! Oh God they're coming!"

Gordon tried to move forward, and shifted his position. "Quick let her in! We can save her."

Simon trained the pulse rifle at the door and shook his head when Laura looked at him for permission, trusting his experience. Besides the grim expressions on both their faces was saying all that was unsaid between the pair. Softly, quietly she spoke to the Engineer. "We can't Gordon, we'll put our own survival chances at risk."

The man's expression was not a satisfied one but he already understood. The woman on the other side of that door was already as good as dead; and if they let her in so were they. They stopped talking and listened as the pounding quickened, and the woman became more desperate.

"You have to help me! Let me in!" Came her pleading voice, the pounding on the door now the sound of scratching. "Please," she continued, "open the door! Help us!"

The scraping stopped suddenly, and something beyond the door gave what sounded like an inhuman cackle. Her voice rose in volume, shouting for something to get off of her, and seconds later her screams of pain sent shivers down their spines.

They all watched the door, Laura and Gordon with horror, Simon with the grim expectancy of a Security Officer. He half expected the door to be torn open amid the screams of the woman, and the sound of her body being torn apart. The sounds stopped soon enough, but not before Laura felt the bile rise in her stomach. From above their heads the sounds of clanging metal made their blood freeze and they all looked up. But nothing was there except the air vent.

"Shit!" Simon slowly lowered the pulse rifle, having snatched it up as the sounds passed. "We should move to the Flight Deck and try and get a shuttle out of here."

Laura nodded her agreement, and sat back, badly shaken by the incident at the door. Brushing a lock of hair that had fallen over her eyes again, and with a deep breath she removed a syringe from her med-pack which she then injected into Gordon's arm. "It's a mild nano-actuator, it'll will rapidly accelerate up your healing process for a short while." She emptied the contents of the vial into the man's blood stream, and withdrew the syringe, closing up the med-pack and smiling at him warmly.

"Your arm should be fine, and fully repaired in an hour." Laura stood, walked around the man and flopped onto one of the chairs. Closing her eyes she mumbled. "I hope this all turns out to be-" Laura squeezed her eyes closed even tighter as a shriek echoed from the air-vent, she whispered, "-just a bad dream."


	2. Under Control Panel Fifteen

Chapter 2: "Under _Control Panel Fifteen"_

A small trio of shadowy figures moved across the Medical Bay in the semi-darkness, to a pair of inter-locking doors.

The silhouettes froze as the sound of shrieking echoed through the medbay, disturbing the apparent silence. The trio then hurried as they covered the last few metres to their potential exit.

As they neared it, a holographic interface appeared in the centre at chest level. Laura peered in at the controls, brushing her hair aside slightly.

"It appears to be on lockdown," she whispered, "I should be able to override it and let us out."

" _Hurry_ …" Simon urged as he scanned the dim area around them. The alarms had silenced a while ago but the room was still lit only by the emergency lights which unsurprisingly did not do the best job of illuminating the area.

Laura concentrated on the lock, bringing up the codes on her RIG to allow her access to the override. The holographic digital interface on the door simply flashed in orange and red, and beeped its reluctance to open.

The Medical Officer's heart was pounding in her chest, and thumping in her ears as she tried strenuously to release the locked door.

Stifling a curse and shaking her head in frustration as the door continued to deny her attempt in flashes of red, Laura finally stepped away from the door. Her posture wilted a little as the faint glow from the door controls vanished, and she stared at where they had been in dismay.

Simon drew her attention and she carefully shook her head in response, whispering "My clearance doesn't give me access. The lockdown needs Bridge Clearance."

Simon Horton grimaced. He had hoped that as one of the senior Medical Officers, Laura would have been able to override any lockdown parameters on the door.

"Great, just great." He muttered darkly, scanning the immediate vicinity with the weapon's spotter beam. It was clear for now, but he could hear the cackling sickening noises as if one of those things was breathing on his neck right over his shoulder, though he knew otherwise. They didn't have much time.

"Laura," Gordon was silent for a few moments as he tried to think, then he looked at her, "if we can get a power node wired up to the door's junction box, it should bypass the main circuitry and override the lockdown."

Laura stared blankly at the Engineer momentarily, while Simon sneered quietly; "And where are we getting this power node of yours? We're not in Engineering." He made another quick check of the room.

Gordon was about ready with a retort about how the Security Officer didn't understand how the ship was built, but Laura's hand on his mouth stopped the reply. She looked at him and smiled.

"Actually," the doctor began, "I think I know where we can find one."

Gordon's eyes brightened quickly. "Where?"

"In the Isolation Labs." Laura spoke quietly and quickly. "At the back, under one of the control panels. I remember they installed one last week."

There was a short pause, before Simon began moving, already knowing they'd be heading there to get the power node on the whim of an Engineer, and a Doctor. "After you, Doc." He motioned with his hands, gesturing her ahead.

She moved back slightly, with a look on her that would have told him; "Are you mad, I'm not going first!" If it hadn't been for the fact that he was already heading off, at the head of the trio, his rifle sweeping back and forth. "Which way?"

"Up there," she pointed "we can take the personnel lifter, then over through those doors."

Simon nodded, satisfied with the route she had given. He reached the personnel lifter ahead of the others, and the holographic panel set into a mounted pad told the Officer it was functional. He swung around as the sound of a glass item shattering broke the silence, quickly followed by a metal clang. The lights flickered on fully for a moment giving them a good look at the monstrous creature that had just landed in the centre of the room, then they were plunged back into semi-darkness.

The orange emergency light that revolved in the centre of the room gave Simon brief glimpses of the 'Necromorph'.

"Quickly!" He encouraged the two others to hurry, as scraping noises from further within the dark bay made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.

"Get to the lift!" He called as from out of the gloom came the shape of one of the pike limbed creatures. It was moving at them in a deliberate fashion, its long claws ready to cleave the Engineer in half. That said, the creature wasn't quick, and Simon easily tracked it with his weapon, after which a burst of blue flame erupted from its nozzle. Rounds from the pulse rifle flew through the air and exploded against the hardened and sickly coloured flesh.

Simon watched as the creature reared back in apparent agony, then started running at them, screaming in an almost human-voiced fit of rage. It covered several metres towards its prey before another burst tore off one of its legs, sending the damnable thing careening forward to slam its head against an operating table.

The creature twitched as its spine absorbed the shock and it began to drag itself up. The injured head lolled backwards letting loose an inhuman scream. Simon tensed and squeezed off another, final, burst which robbed it of its cranium in a cloud of pink brain matter. The beheaded Necromorph toppled backwards into some chairs, sending them scraping and sliding across the floor while blood splattered the deck from its head wound.

Simon watched the twitching form of the ungainly mutant for several seconds before the light touch of Laura's hand on his shoulder brought him back to more pressing tasks. Moments later the lift hummed to life and raised them up to the next level.

Another crash and clang in the bay down below caused their hearts to skip a few beats, especially when a screech reverberated throughout the room. Simon grimaced again. Getting back to their exit would be a hard feat, and the confidence in his own abilities to defend them was slowly diminishing. Laura nodded her thanks to him however, as did the Engineer, who was first off the lift when it stopped. Laura followed.

Simon was about to follow when he paused as a thought occurred. He quickly locked down the controls, ensuring the lift would be there when they returned. Not that their odds were slim, they were non-existent.

They took off at a run, feet clattering on the deck beneath them. Soon they reached a hallway that would eventually lead to one of three destinations. Laura took the lead now, swinging around to a sub-corridor off to the side, and down a few steps to a medium sized chamber. The chamber was filled with observation windows into some kind of cells. She by-passed them, beyond the flickering and barely functional computer panels, quickly leading them over to a door which opened at her RIG's command. She paused at the sight beyond.

Gordon saw over her shoulder and grabbed the Doctor with his good arm, pulling her to the side as the battered form of one of the nurses that she had worked with fell from the open doorway, stumbling into Simon's laser-sighted light.

The trio took in the nurse, their eyes widening with shock. Blood dyed most of her once pristine white uniform into a dark coppery mess, gashed with deep, and life threatening wounds all the way up her arms and her body.

From the deep cuts seeped the nurses bodily fluid, it flowed down her body and seeped from her shoes. A long burned slash, that still smoked from a surgical laser, leading from a blackened hole where her left eye had once been to the right corner of her lip, dominated most of her face. Her blonde hair was frazzled, and pasted to her sweaty and bloodied skin. The woman's lips trembled with a hoarse whisper. "M- make us wh- whole again."

"Dyane it's me, Laura!"

Simon watched Dyane, frozen to the spot in slight fear at her current behavior, he couldn't move quickly enough to stop her as from behind her back she revealed a small and activated medical laser.

This revealed to them that Dyane's wrists which looked to have been scratched and torn at.

Dyane's voice was shaky, her eyes darting between Laura and Gordon. "Make us whole." She repeated.

Before they could react the laser scalpel was swiping across her neck, as the beam cut into her throat. Laura screamed and without thinking tried to get at her _colleague_ , but Gordon grabbed her sleeve just in time to stop her.

Dyane breathed her last breath, the flesh around her windpipe lacerated and burned away in a smoking slag that filled the air with ozone. The nurse's final expression was an odd smile, as her lifeless body collapsed, splattering her blood across the deck.

Gordon looked away, pulling Laura back. The doctor struggled a little, but not enough to break free from his grip. She started sobbing and the Engineer didn't know what to do to comfort her. He barely knew her. In fact, the first time he had seen Laura was for a medical assessment the week before the Ishimura arrived at Aegis VII. Then things got weird.

"We still have to get off this ship, let's get this node." Simon stated, sounding as commanding as possible. He glanced up at the the sign above the door proclaiming, 'Isolation Labs'.

Gordon looked over and nodded. "Laura, we need to to find out which control panel the node is under."

Simon stepped over the nurse's body towards her and placed a hand on the Doctor's shoulder. "There was nothing we could have done for her. From the wounds she'd already inflicted on herself, she would have died shortly, anyway. I'm sorry, Laura. We have our own troubles right now, and we need you to keep a clear head."

Laura nodded meekly, and tried to smile, but the image of Dyane slicing her neck open with the surgical implement was burned into her mind. The smell of her friend's cauterised flesh wasn't helping her focus now, either. She swallowed and wiped a hand across her eyes. "Uh-huh."

Gordon led her into the Labs whilst the Security Officer gave a quick sweep of the hallway then went into the room after them. He stopped short as the lighting flickered, casting strange shadows on the walls. They were covered in strange symbols that on closer inspection was dried blood. Actually no, that was not true. Some of the symbols were recent enough to still be slick, almost as slick as the blood on the deck. He noted a lack of bodies for this much blood and looked over his shoulder towards Laura.

"Weird." Simon muttered before raising his voice. "These look like the same symbols that are on that marker we recovered, they're scrawled all over the wall here." He decided it best to leave out the part about it being in semi-dried blood.

Gordon was moving behind several chemical storage tubes, and to his left Laura was sitting at a computer, trying to locate exactly where the power node might be.

The Engineer was was studying the power cables in case Laura couldn't get the location from the terminal. He was tracing them to see where the cables all ran to, he'd never been assigned any work here on the Ishimura so this was all new to him. Then again the whole situation was new to all of them. How many had survived so far like them? He quelled the thought.

"Any luck, Laura?" Simon broke the silence that had descended between them after the nurse.

She hesitated, her hands trembling slightly, unable to shake the image of Dyane from her mind. Her vision blurred for a moment, and she breathed in and out slowly. Laura typed in a few commands on the control panel. A large holographic display sprang to life above her head, and a diagram of the room appeared with a pulsing line tracing the power flow. "Control panel fifteen..." She whispered, then louder, "It's under control panel fifteen."


End file.
